Crisis over; Yeddyurappa, Reddys to work together

Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa offers a piece of cake to Anantha Kumar. Also seen is Karnataka Tourism Minister B.Janardhana Reddy at the residence of BJP Leader L.K.Advani in New Delhi on Sunday. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

PTI

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and dissident leader G Janardhana Reddy with party leader Sushma Swaraj after a meeting at her residence in New Delhi on Sunday.

The fortnight-long political crisis in the Karnataka BJP ended as expected on Sunday with a truce announced in the presence of Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani, party president Rajnath Singh and senior leader Sushma Swaraj, even as Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and rebel leader Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy held hands and raised them together for the benefit of news cameras in a show of solidarity.

“The crisis has been resolved amicably and both Mr.Yeddyurappa and Mr. Reddy will go back to Bangalore and start working for the betterment of the State from tomorrow. It is a happy coincidence that a solution has been found on the birthday of Mr. Advani which I consider a birthday gift,” Ms. Swaraj told journalists after successfully arranging a face-to-face discussion between the Chief Minister and Mr. Reddy at her residence for the final deal.

Mr. Reddy’s supporter, Health Minister B. Sriramulu, party State president Sadananda Gowda and BJP MP from Karnataka H.N. Ananth Kumar were among those present during the final touches to the compromise formula that had been more-or-less worked out on Friday.

No word on details

While officially there was no word on the details of the “deal,” privately some senior party leaders said the compromise was worked out around the main point that there would be no change in the leadership in the State, meaning, Mr. Yeddyurappa would continue as Chief Minister. The other important component was that a number of recent decisions taken by the Chief Minister that had irked Mr. Janardhana Reddy and his brother Karunakara Reddy would be revoked and a coordination committee would be set up for taking major decisions in which one or more of the Reddy brothers would be members.

The two factions visited Mr. Advani’s residence to greet him on his birthday and announce the ending of their war.